


The Mysterious Case of the Missing Double Helix

by Rich_Ramblings



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: And they're dweebs about it, Bokuto is a physical therapy student, College, College Haikyuu, Established Bokuto/Kuroo, Established Relationship, Established Sawamura Daichi/Sugawara Koushi, Future Fic, Gen, HAVING A GOOD TIME, Haikyuu Future Fic, Hakiyuu Chat Fic, I mean that's in there too, Kuroo is a chemistry student, M/M, Suga is probably studying to be a teacher, They're all students at the same university isn't that wild, Whatever Daichi's doing he's doing a good job of it, bokuroo - Freeform, chatfic, daisuga - Freeform, sorta - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-17
Updated: 2017-09-17
Packaged: 2018-12-31 00:11:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12120333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rich_Ramblings/pseuds/Rich_Ramblings
Summary: “If I were an enzyme I’d be DNA helicase so I could unzip your genes.” His english was slow and heavily accented, almost comically broken by the pauses and sounding out of words. Kuroo’s brow furrowed.“Do you...Know what you just said to me?” He asked in a low voice, typical joking smirk replaced by a slightly pained, slightly exasperated, most confused frown.





	The Mysterious Case of the Missing Double Helix

“Heeeeeey.” Bokuto groaned, looking up from where he had previously been resting his chin on his bent left arm. He was hunched over, sitting across from Kuroo at their too small table in the library, right arm extended in front of him, phone clutched in his hand. While the device had held his attention for approaching a full hour, his eyes were now intently staring at his boyfriend, who still seemed more engrossed in his laptop than his companion. “C’mon. Pay attention to me.” Bokuto whined, not for the first time that day. It was, after all, Kuroo’s, and therefore Bokuto’s, third trip to the library that day. Finally, he swung his foot forward, making satisfying, and painful, contact with Kuroo’s shin.

To his credit, the bedhead managed to stifle what was sure to have started in his throat as a great shout and possibly profanity into a clenched-tooth hiss. Well, Bokuto had his attention now. He sat bolt upright in his chair and read from his phone screen, quietly so as to avoid the continued wrath of the librarian.

“ _If I were an enzyme I’d be DNA helicase so I could unzip your genes._ ” His english was slow and heavily accented, almost comically broken by the pauses and sounding out of words. Kuroo’s brow furrowed.

“Do you...Know what you just said to me?” He asked in a low voice, typical joking smirk replaced by a slightly pained, slightly exasperated, most confused frown. Bokuto, smiling broadly, shook his head and leaned down again to rest his chin on the table, arms hanging low, absently stretching. His foot started tapping out a rapid tattoo on the thinly carpeted floor. He was about at his limit as a study buddy. Not that he’d been doing much studying himself.

“I recognized the letters ‘ _DNA_ ’ and thought it might be an interesting fact for you!”

The loud student was hushed by the vulture like library staff member as she swept by, gazing critically over a stack of natural history text books. If it was possible for the large man to compress into himself at the pointed glare, he did then. Once she was out of sight and, presumably, earshot, he whispered. “Was it interesting?”

There was the smirk, back in its rightful place. Kuroo nodded, flipping his laptop closed and leaning down to rest his chin on the table as well, level with his boyfriend. Wide eyes meeting narrowed ones. “It was very interesting.”

“Whoa, really? Sweet!” Bokuto nodded emphatically, no doubt mentally congratulating himself on successfully scouring the Internet for something other than owl memes. It’s very strange to watch someone nod while his chin in still resting on a table. After a second, the enthusiastic young man stopped, cocking one thick eyebrow. “What does it say? In Japanese. Simple Japanese. So I can understand.”

Kuroo snickered, sitting back up and starting to pack away his belongings. “Aren’t you a perfect little idiot.”

“Bwah-!”

“Hush hush I mean it in the most loving way possible.” Taking one last glance around the table to make sure a stray pencil hadn’t escaped him, the student rose and swung his satchel over his shoulder, heading to the door and trusting his partner to follow after. In half a second they were striding side by side out into the golden autumn air. Kuroo squinted up at the sun, blinking rapidly to adjust his eyes to its sudden brightness.

“What did it say what did it say what did it say-” Bokuto chanted, taking the stairs three at a time on his way down, then stopping at the bottom and doubling over, clutching his left thigh and letting out a pained groan.

“Better watch those stress fractures,” Kuroo said, sounding unaffected as he passed his energetic partner, “The national team isn’t a far off fantasy…” He glanced back over his shoulder, a look of genuine concern passing over his face like a cloud drifting in front of the sun. In a moment he was back to his default expression of a slightly bemused but mostly condescending smile, just as quickly as Bokuto was back his his cheerful and devil may care brashness.

“They would only be so lucky.” Bokuto said, managing to keep the moody undertone out of his voice. It was a sore point, as painful as the stress fractures themselves, and one that the two college freshman liked to avoid discussing. Intramurals for Kuroo and college team for Bokuto was certainly less than either of them had been aiming for, but it was time to stop dwelling and focus on being the best chemist and physical therapist, respectively, that they could be.

“What did it say?” Bokuto asked again, pouting comically at Kuroo. He wasn’t as good at predicting the man’s mood swings at Akaashi had apparently been, but he could sort of tell that ignoring him wouldn’t be any good.

“In layman’s terms, and you, dearest, are a layman, you told me you wanted to get into my pants,” Kuroo said nonchalantly, directing his steps toward their apartment. It was just about dinner time and he wanted to drop off his books before heading to the cafeteria, “In a relatively obscure, horribly punny way.” Bokuto gasped, then laughed.

“Well, as long as you enjoyed it!” After a moment he deflated. “Maybe I should learn more English…”

“Maybe you should.” Kuroo agreed.

Joking and laughing and ‘cross country’ people watching, the two friends made their way across campus. It was a large place, one that had been confusing in the utmost during their first few weeks. There was also the feeling of going from the top of the pile as high school seniors to being the lowest of the low as college freshman. Nevertheless, the two had settled in more or less easily. What had really taken getting used to was pretending to be adults, real adults, the kind that pay rent and go grocery shopping and look at storage solutions.

“Do you think we’ll ever be able to get across campus without checking a map?” Bokuto asked, slipping his phone back into his pocket after closing out the window with said map, “Or will we still be checking whether we’ve passed the right building before turning off even when we’re on our way to graduation?”

Kuroo chuckled, gesturing to a random building and mimicking what he figured would be his memory of his college freshman voice when he hit senior year. “Oh my gosh is that the science complex? Did I go the wrong way?” Bokuto burst out laughing as he pointed out the turn they were to take.

“You sound like Hinata! Or...I mean I guess their whole team…” The student gestured wildly at the astronomy tower, just barely visible over the line of building to his left. “Is that the Sky Tree?” He gushed, fists clenched and pumped by his face, expression sunny, every bit an imitation of his favourite up and coming Karasuno ace. After a moment both he and his boyfriend collapsed into undignified giggles, earning a few strange looks from passersby as they reached the front stoop of their apartment complex.

Kuroo took a deep breath as he reached into his pocket for his keys, trying to get his laughing under control. “Man am I glad we...Glad we…” He’d looked up at their second floor apartment’s window, as he typically did, not that he could see much around the fire escape. This time, though, his gaze was drawn and held there. His eyes widened. His stomach dropped. He cursed quietly. Bokuto, next to him, frowned and looked up.

“What’s...What’s wrong?”

“The window’s open.”

“...O-okay?”

Kuroo dropped his gaze to stare intently at his friend.

“We have a cat, Kotarou.”

If Bokuto’s already wide eyes could grow any wider, they did then.

“WE HAVE A CAT!” He shouted, rooting around in his pockets for his own keys. He apparently realized he’d forgotten them, and looked at Kuroo, who had already typed in the apartment complex door code and was bolting up the stairs to their flat. 

In his panic, it took a few tries to get the key in the lock and the door unlocked, but eventually Kuroo burst into their small apartment, slamming the door open wide and looking around. A second later, rubbing at the pain in his thigh, Bokuto barreled past him into their kitchen, whirling in a circle to look around. 

“Double Helix!” Kuroo shouted, shedding his heavy backpack to the floor and storming off down their short hallway, “Double Helix!” He called again, as though their cat had ever responded to her name.

Kuroo stormed into their bathroom, the room whose window was wide open. There was no trace of the cat, only a pile of towels that had been neatly folded on the window's ledge before now lying in a crumpled heap on the floor. Black cat hair all over them. “I think we have a big problem.” He shouted over his shoulder. How much trouble could a cat get into in a big city? He didn’t want to find out. In a moment, Bokuto was standing beside him, out of breath, more flustered than he’d been in a while, and smelling suspiciously like a kitchen garbage can.

“If I didn’t love that cat so much I’d strangle her.” Kuroo ground out between his teeth, striding up the the window and pulling it down forcefully, then proceeding to angrily fold the towels and replace them neatly on the ledge. Bokuto shifted his weight between his feet anxiously, trying to think about what to do. It wasn’t necessarily his strong point.

The cat had never tried to get out before, so Kuroo had no clue where she’d go. What would a cat that had everything try to get? He clicked his tongue in frustration while watching with an air of concern as Bokuto rubbed at the pain in his thighs, no doubt worse than ever after the all out sprint up the stairs.

“Who do we know who lives around here?” Bokuto asked suddenly, straightening up and pulling his phone out of his pocket. He began scrolling through his contacts and constructing a group chat of those he knew for sure.

“Well...The guys from your team, the guys from my team, our friends, some people we knew from high school, our parents, our-” 

“Okay but who do we know who’s in the area who wouldn’t mind going on a man hunt for- A cat hunt for Dooby?”

“For the last time her name is Double Helix, and those stipulations make it a much shorter list.” Kuroo stopped halfway through folding a towel and bit his lips, eyebrows knit. “I don’t know if they have the same numbers that they did from that training camp but Sawamura and Sugawara don’t live too far away. They...They go here, actually. To our university.” He frowned, finishing with the towel and setting it down. “I don’t think they’d be too happy to suddenly get called on to-” Kuroo’s phone blipped and he dug it out of his pocket. It was a group text sent to him and two numbers he didn’t recognize. From Bokuto. He looked up curiously at Bokuto, who was texting furiously, then swiped open the message. 

**NEW MESSAGE: GROUP TEXT**

**MESSAGE TOPIC: WE LOST OUR CAT PLEASE HELP**

**Bokuto: HEY HEY HEY SAWAMURA AND SUGAWARA CAN YOU HELP US OUT**

“Are you aware that you only type in capital letters or does it look normal to you?” Kuroo asked, tapping out a message himself.

“It’s to show my fiery spirit.” Bokuto replied, still typing. The fact that he could talk and text at the same time was strangely impressive to Kuroo.

**Sawamura: Bokuto-san?**

**Kuroo: hey hi i’m here 2 devilishly handsome captain from nekoma you probably remember me**

**Sugawara: not ringing a bell...i didn’t know the mirrors in tokyo are so distorted though, isn’t that weird?**

**Sawamura: Hello, Kuroo-san. How can we help?**

**SAWAMURA’S NAME HAS BEEN CHANGED TO THIGHS**

**SUGAWARA’S NAME HAS BEEN CHANGED TO FACE**

**FACE’S NAME HAS BEEN CHANGED TO BEAUTY MARK**

**Beauty Mark: what are you doing????**

**Bokuto: CHANGING YOUR NAMES TO YOUR BEST FEATURES :DDDD**

**Beauty Mark: i got demoted from face to beauty mark. daichi make him stop he’s being mean**

**Thighs: How can we help?**

“They’re way nicer than we deserve,” Kuroo said with a smirk, looking up at Bokuto, who was nodding emphatically, finally looking away from his phone, “Specifically Sawamura.”

“Extra eyes should be a big help, right?” Bokuto looked deep in thought, zoned out but eyes still on his phone. Kuroo nudged him with his toe, crossing his arms and looking at his own screen.

“You didn’t give me a nickname,” He observed, eyebrows raised, “What’s my best feature?” Bokuto’s large, golden eyes darted up to look at him. He scanned Kuroo slowly from head to toe, then bit his lip and scurried out of the bathroom. Kuroo watched him go, curiously, but his attention was drawn back to his phone when it notified him of a new group message.

**KUROO’S NAME HAS BEEN CHANGED TO A+ FOR EFFORT**

**Beauty Mark: BWAH HAH HAH HAH**

**A+ For Effort: i dont need that from u ur a single skin blemish hang on i need to go kill my boyfriend ill get back 2 u in a moment**

~~~~~~~

**Thighs:...It’s been about ten minutes worth of moments, what’s up?**

**Thighs: Koushi’s phone died but here’s here, too.**

**Thighs: He says “Get your shit together”.**

**A+ FOR EFFORT’S NAME HAS BEEN CHANGED TO BEDHEAD**

**BEDHEAD’S NAME HAS BEEN CHANGED TO PRETTY GOOD BLOCK**

**PRETTY GOOD BLOCK’S NAME HAS BEEN CHANGED TO CLEANS THE BATHROOM**

**CLEANS THE BATHROOM’S NAME HAS BEEN CHANGED TO VAST INTELLECT**

**Thighs: Koushi says “I’d argue against the validity of that but I just got back from class and I’m too tired of constructing counter arguments”.**

“Is that good enough for you?” Bokuto asked, grunting a little as Kuroo shifted positions. He was sitting on his back, having caught him in a headlock and forced him to the floor of their living room. He’d then planted himself in his current spot until his boyfriend agreed to change his nickname in his phone.

“Sugawara is being a little shit about it via Sawamura,” Kuroo replied, shifting one last time for good measure, digging his bony hips into Bokuto’s back before smoothly standing to his feet and stretching his arms above his head. Taking Bokuto down in a physical fight was no mean feat. “But that’s pretty typical of him, I think.” He finished, looking back at his phone.

**Vast Intellect: alright heres the deal; we have a cat, or maybe we had a cat and she’s dead nowhfkwndsv**

**Vast Intellect: koutarou informs me im not allowed 2 say the d word we have a cat and she’s fine she just happened to escape the second floor window of our apartment**

**Thighs: You two live together? Where?**

**Vast Intellect: yeah we’re dating 2 actually just across the street from campus.**

**Thighs: Congratulations. Koushi wants me to tell you both that he’s charging his phone right now and that we left the ‘hellish purgatory of sexual tension’ and started dating a few months ago. That’s very close to us. How can we help you with your cat?**

**Beauty Mark: what’s up losers my phone is plugged in.**

**Beauty Mark: oh hey guess what i work in the library at the university. i could totally print posters of your cat for you.**

**BOKUTO’S NAME HAS BEEN CHANGED TO FIERY SPIRIT**

**Fiery Spirit: :DDDDDDD WOULD YOU DO THAT FOR US???**

**Beauty Mark: yeah! anything for shouyo’s favorite ace**

**Vast Intellect: …**

**Beauty Mark: want me to print them right now?**

**Vast Intellect: that would be great**

**Beauty Mark: hmmm…**

**Fiery Spirit: PLEASE!!!**

**Beauty Mark: ^-^b i’ll head out right after i get dinner, can you send me a picture of the cat? daichi and i will meet you at the library**

**Thighs: I guess we’ll see you soon.**

~~~~~~~

“When exactly are we supposed to meet them?.” Kuroo grumbled, looking up from his phone to make sure he wasn’t about to walk into a busy street. He and Bokuto had left a few minutes before and were currently trying to find their way back to the library for the fourth time that day. What made it hard was that Bokuto insisted on stopping every ten feet to call for Double Helix, occasionally darting off into an alley when he heard a cat meowing. Kuroo had finally grabbed his hand and was holding it tightly to keep him from wandering. He could feel his boyfriend’s nervous energy vibrating up through his arm. His nerves usually translated as excitement, but Kuroo had to remind himself that even the most upbeat person could feel anxious.

“We will find her, right?” Bokuto asked, squeezing Kuroo’s hand tightly and looking at him. The sun was starting to set over the campus buildings, but his eyes seemed wide and bright enough to make up for the waning light. Kuroo smiled tautly, squeezing his hand back.

“Yeah, of course we will.” he said quietly. When they rounded the corner and came in view of the library two familiar figures were sitting on the front steps, leaning against one another. They got closer before they other two noticed them and stood, coming to meet them. Sugawara looked a little taller and a lot more tired, Sawamura looked remarkably older and had too long bangs hanging over his eyes. Both waved as they closed the distance between them.

“Good to see you again,” Sawamura said with a smile, holding out his hand to Kuroo, who took it in their customary death grip. Sure, they weren’t volleyball rivals anymore now that Sawamura had chosen to start a team outside of the university instead of joining intramurals, but there was still a lowly burning fire of competition that Kuroo felt. He grinned. And he squeezed harder.

“Yeah it’s been too long.” Kuroo said slowly, then looked at Sugawara, who was handing a stack of papers to Bokuto.

“I think Double Helix is a really cute name for a cat!” He said with a bright smile. He seemed so much more approachable and kind in person than he did over text. Maybe it was the offhandedly charming way he smiled.

“Pfft- I just call her Dooby,” Bokuto replied, scanning the posters Sugawara had handed him, “Kuroo had to name her something complicated and smart sounding. And in English.”

“I’m a chemistry major, it comes with the territory,” Kuroo said, interjecting into their conversation and taking a few posters from Bokuto, “They’re the only words Koutarou knows in English, anyway.” 

“That’s not true! I know...Uh… _A_ , _B_ -” 

“Those are just letters. Don’t count.” Kuroo objected, crossing his arms over his chest and smiling lazily. Bokuto glanced at Sugawara for confirmation. The young man shrugged with an apologetic smile. Bokuto frowned.

“ _Quick_ , _nice kill_ , _don’t mind_...I know I know more. Anyway! About Dooby-”

“Double Helix and if you-”

Sawamura clapped his hands to break up what seemed to be mounting into a full blown lover’s spat. It was such a him thing to do, such a captain thing to do. Kuroo and Bokuto shut up immediately, and Sugawara chuckled.

Sawamura took a deep breath holding his hard out to the the sides in a motion that screamed ‘can we just talk about this for a moment or I might get very angry’. A involuntary shiver went through Kuroo at the prospect of an angry Sawamura. “We have the posters, we have about an hour until the sun goes down, and we have morning classes. What’s our plan?” He looked between Kuroo and Bokuto who in turn looked at each other. They hadn’t thought that far, clearly. Sawamura sighed and rubbed his temples. Sugawara moved to stand next to him, looking critically at the two of them, thought etched into every line of his face.

Bokuto apparently couldn’t take the intense stare any longer and pulled out his phone. Within a few moments he cleared his throat to speak. Kuroo glanced over and saw that he had opened a web page on how to find a lost cat. It was weirdly endearing and he felt a flush of affection well up in him. He pushed it down quickly. This was serious cat finding business, he has no time to be getting all lovey dovey.

“It says the first step is to...Not let the cat get out.” Bokuto looked up at Kuroo, bewildered. “We failed step one,” he said quietly, eyes holding an emotion that didn’t quite have a name, “We’re bad cat dads, Tetsurou.” He continued, voice barely a whisper.

“Okay okay okay so you failed step one, what’s the next thing it recommends?” Sugawara interjected. He seemed a little too keen to lean on the Internet for assistance, and Kuroo passingly pondered how in control of the situation he actually felt. He smirked. Little mister easy-breezy-beautiful wasn’t as composed as he’d like them to believe. He filed that information away for another time. Kuroo craned his neck to look at the screen.

“Neighborhood networking, it says.” He gestured at the two former Karasuno students, “Ew gross that’s you guys.” 

“Excuse me-” 

Sawamura put a calming hand on Sugawara’s shoulder, but his eyes were burning with a second emotion Kuroo couldn’t name, but one much colder and sharper than the inexplicable look in Bokuto’s eyes. Something about the two of them left Kuroo with a permanent uneasy feeling, but he kind of liked the off balance sensation. Kept him on his toes. He grinned, shrugging at Sugawara before speaking. “Keeping an eye out around the area. Double Helix is an indoor cat so she probably won’t go far.” Kuroo tilted his head to the side, bangs swinging fully off of his face for a moment before returning to obscure his vision. He gestured for the stacks of posters, combing them before splitting them off into four roughly equal piles. “Let’s split up and hang these up places. We’ll start at the apartment and each go in different directions. Sound good?”

Bokuto gasped and stood up straighter than he had, a new glow in his eyes. “You said that so cool!” He gasped, fists clenched up by his shoulders until he gestured grandly with one arm. “Off to find adventure and...A cat!”

His grandiose outburst was met by silence. He deflated immediately and turned his feet toward home, sullenly marching off to find his cat. Kuroo chuckled and closed the gap between them in a few steps, gesturing to Sugawara and Sawamura to follow. He casually took Bokuto’s hand and nestled a kiss into the top of his spiky haired head.

“I thought it was funny but needed to save face in front of stick-up-his-ass Sawamura.” He said quietly, chancing a glance at the man in question, who raised an eyebrow curiously. Kuroo winked. Sugawara bristled and latched onto his boyfriend’s arm more tightly. Kuroo let out a loud, barking laugh. “Don’t worry, Beauty Mark, I like Fiery Spirit more than Thighs.” 

“I know you think that makes you sound really funny and relatable but it actually just sounded super weird.” Sugawara replied, glancing at Kuroo with a small smile as a group of people passed them, staring that the bed headed college student and whispering under their breath.

Kuroo swore quietly and vowed to not speak again until they reached the apartment.

~~~~~~~

**Fiery Spirit: AND SO OUR FOUR BRAVE HEROES SET OFF ON THEIR QUEST TO FIND THE GREAT LEGENDARY CAT OF LEGENDS**

**Beauty Mark: 1. redundancy, points deducted**

**Beauty Mark: 2. does your phone have a caps lock feature that you could maybe turn off that’d be great**

**Vast Intellect: it doesnt he does that on purpose :3c**

**Beauty Mark: points deducted for poor emoji placement**

**Thighs: Since when is there a point system on helping out a neighbor?**

**Beauty Mark: you’re better than any of us deserve, daichi. never forget that.**

Kuroo smiled to himself as he put his phone away and set off down the street, stack of posters in one hand and roll of duct tape in the other. He was allowed to do that, smile gently and genuinely, when no one was around to see. Other than that no. Absolutely not. Well maybe Bokuto got to see it, but the condescending smirk was _so much cooler_ than having real, actual _feelings_.

Kuroo stopped himself before he got further into an evening spiral of psycho analysis.

However, it didn’t take much reflection to acknowledge he was worried. Double Helix had been his and Bokuto’s moving in present to themselves, and he still got a weird and warm and fuzzy feeling in his stomach when he remembered going to the animal shelter together and gazing at all the cats and picking out one that seemed just right, like she’d mesh right into their lives.

“She’s a little shit most of the time but I love her…” he muttered under his breath after verifying his solitariness. He shook his head and looked down at the posters in his hand. He’d hung up about five of them already, but still had a hefty handful to go. Either Sugawara wanted them to spend a long ass time hanging up posters or he was genuinely concerned about the fate of their little black cat with twin twisty white patterns down her tail. Anyone who knew a thing about nucleic acids would immediately recognize them as the source material for her name. Her paws and ear tips were also white, and Kuroo felt himself fill with worry again. What if they didn’t find her? What if he wouldn’t get to pet her soft fur again?

What if Bokuto cried when she was gone forever?

That would be the worst of it.

Kuroo’s steps quickened to the next wall, where he hung up a poster and then continued to stride quickly down the street. He pulled his phone out to check if there were any updates on the situation. It looked mostly like Sugawara and Bokuto were sending increasingly obscure emojis to each other with an occasional interruption by Sawamura, letting them know how many posters he’d hung up. Kuroo was irked to see his number was quite a bit higher than his own, and quickened his pace even more. He had to use his height advantage to its fullest.

**Thighs: I have good news and I have bad news.**

The sudden and slightly alarming departure from counting up made Kuroo stop in his tracks to type out a reply.

**Fiery Spirit: ?**

**Beauty Mark: ??**

**Thighs: I found the cat.**

**Fiery Spirit: !!!!**

**Vast Intellect: whats the bad news**

**Thighs: Children.**

**Vast Intellect: oh thats very bad news ill be right there where are u**

~~~~~

Kuroo often forgot that there were actual people in college towns aside from college students. Actual people as in the type that had real jobs with regular hours and didn’t have to carry backpacks everywhere and spent approximately none of their time calculating the best route to get to class in three minutes flat. The real type of actual people who had children, and those real type of actual children who played on playgrounds and collected stray cats. His stray cat. His cat. His cat was laying on her back in the woodchips, purring as a small group of kids crowded around her and pet her belly. He was filled with rage inexplicably, and probably would have stormed off to scare the little buggers away had a strong hand not clamped on his elbow. He started and whirled about to find Sawamura.

“Is that her?” He asked, nodding toward the cat. Kuroo nodded, pulling his arm away and crossing his arms over his chest.

“Look at her, fraternizing with the enemy.”

“They’re children, Kuroo-san.”

“Your point?”

Daichi sighed and walked slowly toward the kids. Kuroo had a brief flashback of a memory to Karasuno’s ace. What had his name been? Azumane. Right. Poor guy had always had a reputation for looking super intimidating on court, like he was about to beat some sense into the opposing team. It wasn’t until he’d caught the guy doing calming breathing exercises at training camp that he’d learned he was a lot less scary than he appeared. At this moment, though, Kuroo saw on the faces of the children and same terror that first years would look at Azumane with. Sawamura probably didn’t realize the intimidating figure he cut to little kids.

“Sawamura!” He hissed under his breath. When the man looked back, Kuroo was shaking his head and miming his arms in an X symbol. “Abort mission!” he mouthed, gesturing for Sawamura ot back off. Sawamura backtracked.

“What is it?”

“You look super scary, dude. Don’t do it.” Kuroo tapped his foot, thinking. The kids were watching them apprehensively but had returned to petting the cat. His cat.

“Sorry!” Came a breathless voice from behind them, accompanied by running footsteps. The two swung around to see Sugawara jogging up to them, hair a mess, posters clenched in his hand. “I got a little lost. Oh! That’s Double Helix!” Kuroo felt slightly uncomfortable hearing him say her name, for some reason. Kind of territorial. He shook his head to try and shake off the feeling.

“Your boyfriend just about scared off the kids until I stopped him.” Kuroo said tonelessly, looking at Sugawara with a raised eyebrow. Sugawara looked back blankly.

“Why did you stop him? That would have made this easier.” He coughed, breathed out through his nose, and pulled himself into a tall, perfectly postured position. With a smile and a wink, he strode off to where the children were gathered around the cat. Kuroo couldn’t quite tell what he was saying to them, but they all immediately burst into laughter. Sugawara was nodding and running his hands through his hair, pulling it up into a messy updo, then pointed over his shoulder at Kuroo. The children laughed even harder and Kuroo got the sense he was being made fun of. Sawamura also seemed to get that impression, and laid a hand comfortingly on his companion’s shoulder. He didn’t shake it off.

“Sugawara is really mean sometimes.” He said softly. Sawamura nodded but didn’t say anything.

Whatever magic Sugawara had been working on the kids, it seemed to have the desired effect, and within a few minutes they were all petting Double Helix one last time, bowing to or hugging Sugawara, and then scampering off to wherever they came from. Sugawara waved and smiled kindly, then scooped up the cat, who seemed compliant enough to not protest. She lay, still purring, belly up in the young man’s arms when he returned to the other two.

“Simple as that. Here’s your cat.” Sugawara held out DOuble Helix, then withdrew her for a second to pet her, and then held her out again. Kuroo’s eyebrow twitched as he held out his hands, but at that exact moment a familiar and terrifying sound tore through the otherwise quiet playground.

“DOOBY!” Bokuto shouted, running full tilt toward the other three college students, vaulting over a bench, dodging the swingset, and tearing through the sandbox in a beeline to them. He held out his hands eagerly when he reached them, apparently having enough sense to not attempt to tackle the cat from Sugawara as he ran up. Sugawara took no time in deciding who to hand the cat to, and in a moment Bokuto was nuzzling her soft fur and babbling at her.

“Nothing quite as refreshing as true love.” Sugawara said with a laugh, and Kuroo didn’t catch a single shred of derision in the words. He accidentally caught his eye, but instead of sneering, Sugawara smiled and nodded, holding up a small thumbs up. “Glad we could help.” It was so heartfelt and pure that Kuroo almost forgot about his jeering from earlier. Almost. 

“Glad to know you too weren’t too busy to help out commoners like ourselves.” Kuroo said snarkily. He made eye contact with Bokuto as the man looked up from kissing Double Helix’s nose and sighed. It was a look that said ‘be nice’. “I’m sorry. Thank you for helping us.” They stood awkwardly in the silence following the apology until Sawamura cleared his throat.

“We already ate dinner but I could go for some ice cream.” He said, looking meaningfully at Sugawara, who nodded.

“You two wanna tag along?” He had his hands in his pockets and was shrugging, as though it was a perfectly normal invitation and not a challenge. Which it probably was, and likely wasn’t. Kuroo forcefully stopped himself from making a jibe.

“We’ll have to drop off our cat and recycle the rest of these posters but that sounds great!” Bokuto piped up, now holding Double Helix aloft like a certain young lion prince. Kuroo felt a rush of affection for both his cat and his boyfriend and, to some extent, the new (old?) friends they’d enlisted for the task of tracking down one and assuage the worries of the other. He smiled and nodded in agreeance.

“Maybe calling on you two was a good idea after all.” Kuroo said, stroking his chin and looking critically at Sugawara and Sawamura as though doing so had been his idea and as though they hadn’t done all of the work. In the end, Kuroo himself had done very little. And that pissed him off. It was his cat, after all. He scowled and aggressively pulled out his wallet, flipping through the bills there. “I’m buying. Let’s take Double Helix home.” Both statements were said more violently than they strictly needed to be said, but it was out and he had to roll with it. The other three laughed and followed him as he set off back toward the apartment.

~~~~

**THIGHS’S NAME HAS BEEN CHANGED TO SUPPORTIVE LEADERSHIP**

**Beauty Mark: ??? bokuto??? what’s up???**

**Fiery Spirit: IT’S NOT ME!!**

**BEAUTY MARK’S NAME HAS BEEN CHANGED TO CHARISMA**

**CHARISMA’S NAME HAS BEEN CHANGED TO CHARISMA IN THE GOOD WAY**

**Charisma In The Good Way: i was concerned. diachi? is that you?**

**Supportive Leadership: It isn’t.**

**Vast Intellect: im sorta of offended that im the last person u think is being nice**

**FIERY SPIRIT’S NAME HAS BEEN CHANGED TO PASSIONATE ENTHUSIASM**

**Charisma In The Good Way: aren’t those the same?**

**Vast Intellect: listen you i love my boyfriend and im trying to as accurate as i can excuse me**

**Vast Intellect: u guys are pretty cool**

**Vast Intellect: thanks for helping us out we should hang out sometime**

**Supportive Leadership: Are you asking to be friends with us?**

**Vast Intellect:...yes**

**Charisma In The Good Way: awwww~**

**Passionate Enthusiasm: I’LL BE YOUR FRIEND :DDD**

**Vast Intellect: were dating, koutarou**

**VAST INTELLECT’S NAME HAS BEEN CHANGED TO BEST BOYFRIEND**

**Charisma In The Good Way: alright friendship’s over time to fight**

**Author's Note:**

> Allow to explain.  
> No there's too much.  
> Allow my to sum up.  
> Actually that's all that really needed to be said. I started writing this for a zine but hit the word limit right around "WE HAVE A CAT" and clearly that wasn't the end of it but clearly I had to finish the narrative.  
> Take some wild guesses about the parts of campus life that make me salty.  
> Reblog it from my Tumblr: https://richards-ramblings.tumblr.com/


End file.
